With yesterday’s win over the Montreal Canadians, the New Jersey
Devils are in the playoffs for the 13th straight season. It’s also the
19th time in 20 seasons the Devils will be in the playoffs. Only the
Detroit Red Wings, who haven’t missed the postseason since 1990, have a
better run in that span.

“I’ve been here for all 13 of them and I’ve seen a lot of
guys come and go, but the attitude is the same,” Brodeur said. “It
starts from our boss upstairs with Lou and it goes and trickles down to
the guy that plays the least amount of minutes. We’ve always had that
attitude that the first step is making the playoffs and after that,
well, we try to go for bigger things.”

The Devils aren’t just getting into the playoffs, they’re doing it
with incredibly successful seasons year after year. They’re in a battle
with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Atlantic division lead and have a
chance to enter the postseason with the second seed in the East.

What
the Devils are concerned about is their recent success– or lack
thereof — once they have reached the playoffs. The Devils haven’t
reached the conference finals since 2003, and have exited in the first
round in two straight seasons to lower ranked teams.

Finally, and a
bit unrelated, but is it really that big of a deal when Ilya Kovalchuk
passes off to teammate for an empty net goal and then gives him the puck
that marked his 700th point? Congrats to Brian Rolston, but let’s not
make too much of Kovy making a simple pass. It happens all the time in
hockey.